"Here lies Zhang Dingjun."
"Zhang Dingjun was a cultivator at the peak of Foundation Establishment. His mother... his father... He was born in 11090 in Banyan City, Qian Province, of the Immortal Sect. In 11106, he entered the School of Dao Cultivation at Qianling University, graduating twenty years later at the third level of Qi Refining..."
"In 11126, Zhang Dingjun began teaching at Banyan City First High School. His students spread far and wide. Among those he taught were many Foundation Establishment cultivators, three Golden Core cultivators, and the Great Sun Sword Heir, Jiang Ding. He made an immense contribution to the revival of the Immortal Sect, and history will surely remember him..."
Jiang Ding's gaze paused there.
That line smacked a little of blowing his own trumpet.
Still, he did not stop Hua Bing and Li Junhao from carving it.
It was an acknowledgment of Teacher Zhang Dingjun's place in history. His teacher's posthumous reputation and how history judged him were not Jiang Ding's to be modest about.
"In 11372, Zhang Dingjun served in the Starfield Forces of the Immortal Sect's Western Front. He tragically gave his life in the war to liberate the people of the Magnetic Earth Realm and revive the Immortal Sect. The Immortal Sect recognized him as a Starfield martyr. Let future generations remember him."
Li Junhao, a Golden Core cultivator, engraved the headstone himself. It was made from an ordinary piece of bluestone and stood before Teacher Zhang Dingjun's grave.
To either side lay Teacher Zhang Dingjun's father and mother.
Jiang Ding's gaze grew distant.
For a moment, he seemed to return to more than two hundred years ago. He saw a young newlywed couple leading their little son down the familiar streets of Banyan City, laughing now and then, as though nothing had